notmovingpictures is the home of two podcasts, notmovingpictures and Ten For Tuesday as well as the zine Exercising Demons and the music project Stationary Nomads. Plus I get to write all kinds of stuff here which is always cool.

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Sunday, October 12, 2014

Playing Hooky

This past Thursday as I was getting
dressed for work I looked over at my wife who hadn’t been feeling
well all day. Besides me going to work it was also time for her to go
pick our son up from school. She had been laying down and sat up and
at that moment I knew what needed to happen. Still, I asked her if
she was going to be okay and she merely shook her head no. Next I
asked the all important question concerning my job, “Do I need to
call in?” This time she nodded her head in the affirmative and
asked “Can you?” It was now my turn to nod in the affirmative and
I did call right after changing my clothes again. No sense in walking
around in work clothes when I don’t have to. Then I was off to pick
our son up.

Naturally he was surprised to see me
but very happy as well. I informed him what was going on and we
traveled back home so that he could change his clothes and get a
snack. After checking his school work we left the house (my wife was soundly
sleeping at this point and I didn’t want to wake her) and I treated
him to a long overdue visit to our comic book store. Yes I did indulge him (and
myself) before we blasted off for the library where I again indulged
him and let him play on the computer there for over an hour. Oh yeah,
we got some books too, that’s always important. We tried going
to a park (okay two parks) so he could play for a few minutes before
it got dark but it was no good, both were deserted, so instead we
monkeyed around for as long as we could.

Returning home once again this time for some dinner we found my wife awake and feeling much better. Before getting
ready for bed I went over my son’s spelling words with him so that
he would be ready for his test the next day. It turned out to be a
very relaxing and very different kind of night for me. I got to do
things with my son that I normally don’t get to do on a weeknight
because I’m always working. My wife usually helps him with his
schoolwork and takes him places. I normally take him on the weekends
to do stuff or we do it as a family. That made it all foreign
territory for me but in a good way.

It almost felt like I was playing hooky
from work even though I wasn’t. I was just taking care of my son
and letting my wife rest. As a matter of fact it did remind of those
times in high school when I did cut school for a day. Don't worry, it's not as if I was a horrible delinquent or anything. It's just that once or twice a year the pressure of dealing
with everything that was high school and life would build up until I
felt like I needed a break. So I’d stay home and my older sister
Teresa would write me a note and forge our mother’s name on it and
all would be well with the world. That’s what Thursday night felt
like for me, a nice break where I was able to relax and enjoy my
family and life.

It also served to underscore for me how
fleeting these times are and if I go around putting things off or
waiting for a better time I’ll miss a lot of things. I need to
schedule a day off here and there occasionally so that our family can
get together and enjoy our time together. Work can wait but doing
things together that only helps to strengthen us as a family cannot wait. All
you have to do is blink and time will pass you by and you’ll never
get the chance to do it again. Thursday was my reminder, let’s hope
I keep remembering and doing it. I owe it to them.

Written and Published by Don Leach.
May not be used without permission from the author.